Greg in China

I left you all assuming that I’d be back in Kunming on Friday night (having left for Hong Kong on Thursday morning) – ah, the best laid plans of mice and men. The trip didn’t quite work out as planned and will be remembered by me as one of the most needlessly expensive excursions I’ve taken. Lets go back a week or so then….

I was in Hong Kong, having paid an extortionate amount of money to get my visa done in about 22 hours. I needed by about 3 or 4pm the next day. It would have been considerably cheaper if I’d waited till 7 but my flight from Shenzhen to Kunming was at 7:15. However, it was an easy transaction. When I’d arrived in Hong Kong about an hour earlier I saw a China Travel Service at the Ferry Terminal – I tried them first. They said they may be able to get me a year, maybe six months. I filled in the form and they pointed to the blank space I’d left for business address and asked me to fill it in or give them a business card. I couldn’t do that so I decided to try somewhere else. I went to Travel Expert, a travel agency that has branches all over Hong Kong. In there I didn’t even need to fill in a form, just handed over my passport and had my credit card swiped for a 1 year, multiple entry, business visa. If only the Chinese Embassy in London had been so efficient.

I then spent the evening with Tim – we went out for dinner, drank quite a lot of Stella and Hoegarden (briefly meeting up with Fiona who I hadn’t seen since graduation in 2002), and woke up about midday in considerable discomfort. Having been in mainland China since late September I am completely unaccustomed to European-strength beer. Also unaccustomed to Western prices, Tim was extremely generous and treated me for the whole time I was there on condition I do the same if he comes to Kunming – a very good deal I think!

The next day, we went for lunch and then I went to buy a mobile phone (as my one has finally packed up). I went back to the travel agent to collect the visa, got to the ferry terminal at 4:15 to discover the next ferry to Shenzhen was at 5:30. This was cutting it fine but there was a good chance I could still make my flight. However the ferry was late and I got in at about 6:50. I would have still been ok if I’d taken a cab and gone straight to check-in but I got the shuttle bus and when I arrived at the airport assumed I’d missed my flight. So I went about trying to find out about changing my ticket. While doing this I heard the call for my flight – I should have had the foresight to realise that it would be late – I’ve never been on an internal flight in China that has been on time and I only had handluggage so I would have made it. Anyway, to cut a long story short I bought a new ticket, uwilling to wait 24 hours to re-use the same ticket, spent the night in an expensive airport hotel, and flew back to Kunming the following morning. I think and hope I may still be able to exchange my unused ticket.

On the saturday night I went out clubbing in Kunming, had a great night (from which some of the more savoury photos are available for public view on flickr).

Not been up to much for the last week until Christmas Eve. Ben and Gab had a little gathering at their flat at which we had dinner, drinks and played a game similar to secret santa but much more fun. Everyone there had to bring a present. Everyone was given a number. Number 1 had to take gift and open it. Number 2 could either steal number 1’s gift or take a new one. Each person could either steal any of the already opened gifts or take a new one. If you’re gift has been stolen you can steal another or take a new one. And so it goes on for a long time until someone decides to open the last gift.

We then went to a couple of bars (Chapter One and the Speakeasy) before ending up at the Camel bar for a 6am breakfast. I went to bed about 7am and suffered from the worst Christmas day hangover I’ve ever had – far worse than the usual Christmas day aftermath of a night in Highgate village and a few after hours drinks in my garden. In fact I was disappointed to hear that none of my friends went to Highgate village this year on Xmas eve – I go away for a few months and everything falls apart!

So Christmas day was a bit of a washout – spent most of it in bed. We did go for a Christmas buffet at a restaurant round the corner but it wasn’t particularly good. They did have turkey but it wasn’t up to par. So I guess I’ll be missing out on that this year. Back to normality for another week till New Year’s Eve.

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